Wondering Questions

What is the best way to respond when we are hurt?  Let’s think through some of our options: hurt someone back, walk away feeling sad with it unresolved, ‘forgive and forget’, tell others about our pain and gain sympathy, attack the other person, hold back from relationships in the future to avoid the pain. I’m guessing that most of us use some combination of these and they may seem to work to some degree, often in the short term. The pain may then show up in other ways in our lives or we may miss out on deep, meaningful relationships because we are trying not to be hurt.  Honestly?  This all sounds pretty painful.  God’s work of justice, walking humbly and showing loving kindness requires that we do the hard work of learning and growing from each and every painful experience. This requires staying open, letting go, and watching what Jesus does and teaches. We will see that Jesus experienced great pain, hurt and death…and new life followed it. —Pastor Trudy

Finding healthy ways to express our fear, anger, and sadness is an important step in changing how we react when people hurt our feelings. I think Habakkuk was using prayer as a tool to do that; Habakkuk was a prophet during a time when there were Empires conquering the land around Judah. Habakkuk lifted up his anger, fear, and sadness to God in prayer, and God reminded Habakkuk that God is with him. By the end of his prayer, even though all the problems weren’t solved, Habakkuk was rejoicing in God. We can try to stay calm in the moment by taking deep breaths, or focusing our thoughts on something else like doing a math problem or reciting something we’ve memorized. But, sometimes we don’t have time to control our reaction and we just react! God has grace for us either way. —Vicar Sharai